Looking Back

From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History 

accessible at www.djnfoundation.org

78 | OCTOBER 13 • 2022 

A Joyful Holiday
S

imchat Torah is Oct. 18. This is the 
day to celebrate the completion of 
the annual Torah-reading cycle. It is 
a joyful holiday that, along with other tradi-
tions, includes a dance, or a hakafot, around 
the sanctuary of a temple or synagogue, or 
perhaps, a parade with the Torah through 
the streets from synagogue to synagogue.
I found 690 pages that mention Simchat 
Torah in the William 
Davidson Digital Archive of 
Jewish Detroit history. Many 
are announcements regarding 
services at local synagogues 
over the past 126 years. I also 
found some very interesting 
articles.
Several articles were holi-
day primers. One was “Simchat Torah At-a-
Glance,” printed in the Apple Tree Section 
for children in the Oct. 17, 2003, issue 
of the JN. Likewise, several articles about 
Simchat Torah were under the subtitle of 
“Holiday 101.” One very interesting report 
explained how the holidays of Simchat 
Torah and Shemini Azteret are linked by 
the rainy season in Israel (Oct. 1, 2015, JN).
What really caught my eye, however, 
were several feature articles about Simchat 
Torah. On the front page of the Oct. 15, 
1978, JN, for one example, is a small graphic 
with the title: “Simhat Torah Rallies Focus 
on Soviet Jews” (Simhat is another spelling 
for the holiday). This is a story about a rally, 
“One Torah One People,” sponsored by the 
Jewish Community Council, the Jewish War 
Veterans, the Detroit Committee for Soviet 
Jewry and the Workman’s Circle, among 
other groups. The rally was inspired by 
prejudice against Jews in the Soviet Union, 
including harassment against those who 
openly celebrated Simchat Torah.
The front page of the Oct. 12, 1990, 
issue of the JN featured “Every Torah Has 
a Story.” This is a lengthy article about the 
history of several local scrolls. The Sifrei 
Torah was found in Czestochowa, Poland, 
by Harry Rapaport. Czestochowa was his 

father’s hometown, and Rapaport 
had heard from a friend that 
there was a cache of scrolls some-
where in the town. Sure enough, 
Rapaport found the scrolls stashed 
in an attic of an old factory. No 
one knows who among the town’s 
last Jewish residents placed the 
scrolls there, but they survived 
World War II. The scrolls desper-
ately needed conservation, but 
seven Torahs survived. One is pre-
served at the Zekelman Holocaust 
Center in Farmington Hills. 
“Every Torah Has a Story” also 
discusses other local Torahs. It 
mentions that, in 1990, like the 
Sifrei Torah, five other local Torahs 
were saved from the Holocaust. 
One, a 250-year-old scroll, is held 
at Temple Shir Shalom. The Sefer 
Torah at Bais Chabad of West 
Bloomfield was commissioned 
after a call from the Lubavitcher 
Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem 
Mendel Schneerson. 
Finally, see the smiling 
faces of Elsie and Wilbert 
Simkovitz on the cover 
of the Oct. 17, 2003, JN. 
“Treasures From the 
Past” is their remarkable 
story about Holocaust-era 
Torah crowns. The crowns 
were saved from the ruins 
of a German synagogue 
that was burned during 
Kristallnacht in 1938. 
The ornate silver crowns 
survived for 60 years but 
were never used until they were returned to 
the family of Elsie and Wilbert Simkovitz 
of Oak Park. The crowns then experienced 
their first Simchat Torah in America. 

Chag Sameach! 

Want to learn more? Go to the DJN Foundation 
archives, available for free at www.djnfoundation.org.

Mike Smith
Alene and 
Graham Landau 
Archivist Chair

